Franco: The dictator's legacy to modern Spain

[Sarmatian]

Communist China will grow, Democractic China would flourish.

According to estimates, China's GDP in 2050 will be about 70,000 billion dollars (compared to estimated 38,000 billion of US in 2050 for example) while at the moment is a 3,000 something billions.

If that's not flourishing, then I don't know what it is...

[Louis VI the Fat]

If that's not flourishing, then I don't know what it is...

It isn't. And I do know just what, exactly, is meant by flourishing then: Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan. Free Chinese. Wealthy Chinese. Flourishing Chinese.

If China hadn't been communist, then economically it would already have been where it will be in 2050. China isn't growing because of its dictatorial regime, it has been prevented from growing owing to its regime.

And if their autocratic regime is changed for a democratic regime, it will also be flourishing in other aspects besides the economy.

[HoreTore]

Louis has it spot on. China is in particular suffering from extreme corruption, a signature trait of dictatorships.

[Sarmatian]

It isn't. And I do know just what, exactly, is meant by flourishing then: Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan. Free Chinese. Wealthy Chinese. Flourishing Chinese.

If China hadn't been communist, then economically it would already have been where it will be in 2050. China isn't growing because of its dictatorial regime, it has been prevented from growing owing to its regime.

And if their autocratic regime is changed for a democratic regime, it will also be flourishing in other aspects besides the economy.

I beg to differ. Opening up China's market totally after 1949 when instead of "hello" people used to greet each other with "have you eaten today" would have been a disaster, as we've seen in Russia in 1991 - Russian economy collapsed and average salary went below Soviet times. Population was impoverished while a small number oligarchs bought companies worth billions for a few bottles of vodka. In China's case where poverty was the norm and where no institutions existed it was far better to gradually open up.

If you need any more proof, just take a look at China's GDP in 1950 and estimated in 2050 and compare it to any open market economy in the world in a hundred years period. Not the actual figures, just the growth in percentages...

Just to be sure, I'm talking about economy and nothing else. I agree that China should be more liberal but that too will come in time. As I've said in another thread not so long ago, it took two centuries for black people to get their rights recognized in the United States, and one could argue that there are still sporadic cases where their rights have been violated. No changes come over night, especially in big countries.